Survivor Caramoan Episode 8 Recap: The Lines Are Drawn In The Sand!

Sorry I took so long with this weeks recap.  I was busy trying to impress this girl I have a crush on by eating the most disgusting things I could find washed up on a nearby beach in front of her!  I'm pretty sure I've won her heart after she's seen me eat a drowned rat I was lucky enough to find!  Anyway onto this weeks recap!
The episode starts off with Phillip pulling Corrine and Dawn aside to drop his big bombshell that he threw the challenge.  The look on Corrine's face is almost as entertaining as the look was on John's face last week when Phillip was telling him the same thing. 
They ask him why he didn't tell them before the challenge because they would of been ok with it and Phillip explains he didn't decide to do it until they were in the middle of the challenge.  As Corrine later says in a confessional, "That's convenient.  That's around the same time that you blew the challenge!"
However, the next morning we see Phillip and Corrine talking and they're actually not at each other's throats.  It's obvious by the exchange that the feuding between them has been exaggerated by the editing.  I'm not saying they like each other but evidently they have had moments of being civil with each other, as they are now discussing their game plan for the next phase of the game.
And buckle your seatbelts because you're never gonna believe what happens next!  Dawn starts to get emotional!  All this strategy talk is too much for Dawn who goes running to the well and starts to spew out some more crocodile tears.  She is then seen contemplating about how she fucked up her game last time by not dropping the dime on John when he flipped.  This is some pretty heavy foreshadowing that a "favorite" will try to flip with the fans this week and will end up biting the dust for their betrayal.
Soon after we see Corrine expressing a lot of excitement about being part of a blindside and I immediately get flashbacks of Kat from One World declaring how fun blindsides are moments before getting blindsided.  So things aren't looking too good for Corrine.
At Gota, the tribe is surprised by the appearance of a boat that gives them the news they must pack their stuff and head to their new home.  The boat takes them to the Bikal tribe, probably because it has all the reward items.  Reynold is nervous about the reception they are going to receive but relieved when everyone is quite diplomatic in their welcome.  However, he still knows he's on thin ice. 
Even with the absence of Probst the tribe is give a traditional feast for making it to the merge.  Malcolm suggests the name of Enil Edam, and Andrea comments on how that means "new beginning".  Everyone but Corrine likes the name who thinks it's the dumbest name ever and has too many sylaballs.  Little does she know that it's her partner in crime Malcolm's sly way of giving a shout out to his mom whose name is Madeline which spelled backwards is Enil Edam!  This poses the question on how Andrea came to think it meant "new beginning".  Most likely her and Malcolm had discussed ideas on a merged tribe name while still at Gota camp, that ended up on the cutting room floor.
After the feast we see old partners Phillip and Andrea and Malcolm and Corrine realigning.  Corrine who has gone on and on about not wanting to betray her alliance for the last few weeks is delighted to hear Malcolm is on board to betray their alliance.  ????????  Looking worse and worse for Corrine.
The tribe is then notified of their first individual immunity challenge.  They find out it's a food eating challenge which repulses everyone except for John who thinks if he eats enough disgusting things it will dramatically improve his love life and get the girls falling all over him.  I've said it before and I'll say it again.  John is a real weirdo!
Reynold on the other hand is very concerned because he knows he doesn't have a strong stomach and he probably has a huge target on his back.  This makes me think he may end up playing his idol tonight.
At the immunity challenge the tribe is split up in groups of 6 with the top 3 of each group facing off against each other in another group of 6 and then the top 3 of that group face off against each other, and then one final round of the top two from that group.
The first group is Corrine, Erik, Andrea, Malcolm, Eddie, and Sherri and the dish is live beetle larvae.  Malcolm, Eddie and Andrea move on to the next round.  Then next group is Dawn, John, Phillip, Michael, Brenda, and Reynold and for once Brenda is not smiling at a challenge.  Dawn on the other hand tries to cheat by picking up one of the worms and Probst tells her to put down her "food" and wait.  Dawn gets really confused and is like "wait"?  Probst again tells her to wait and she confusingly says "for...".  For once, Probst is a little stunned and can't decide on exactly how sarcastic he should be to her idiotic question.  Eventually he simply tells her to wait for "go".  I wish he would of been more like he was when he got pissed off at Colby for trying to rush him in Heroes Vs Villains and said something like "wait until I'm ready and say go"!  Probst finally does say "go" and John, Michael and Phillip make it to the next round.
The next round the remaining six have to eat worms that are the oceans version of termites.  Phillip boldly announces that the worms sliminess are really making his mouth water.  But once again Phillip talks the talk but can't walk the walk.  Malcolm and Eddie quickly finish their plate and John just barely beats out Andrea. 
The next round is the classic Survivor dish Balut, which is the incredibly disgusting almost completely developed bird embryo.  Complete with feathers and beaks.  Now after having developed a pretty strong stomach while serving in the Navy for four years I feel I would be great at a Survivor food challenge.  I also think my acting skills are strong enough to where I could convince the other team to pick me in the result of a tie, for the tie breaker, at which point I would blow the competition out of the water, but one thing I would be really worried about having to eat is Balut.  It's the one thing I've seen on Survivor that I don't know if I could even take one bite out of. 
In this particular case Malcolm and John edge out Eddie.  Probst doesn't hesitate to stress how impressed he is to see John in the finals of an immunity challenge.  Who can blame him?  It's not likely to ever happen again.
John ends up winning immunity which isn't so surprising when you stop and consider how many boogers and paste he probably devoured as a kid.  He then does an embarrassing victory dance, the likes of which have not been seen on Survivor since waaaay back in season 1 when Richard Hatch won individual immunity.
Back at camp John is relishing the glory of his victory and confesses his awareness that this is probably the only time he'll get to know this feeling.  This coming from the same guy that was insulted by Ozzy's suggestion that he was the favorite to win the redemption island duel against John in South Pacific.  Of course John did in fact get his ass kicked by Ozzy.
Malcolm is happy for John that he got to cross this achievement off his bucket list but doesn't plan on keeping him around for long which is music to my ears.  After that, what takes place can only be described as the most fascinating displays of Survivor strategy in not only the entire season but probably the decade.
Ok here's the deal.  Most of the "favorites" want to stick to the plan of knocking off the fans, except for Corrine and Malcolm who want to put in motion a mutiny against the "favorites".  So we first we see Phillip and Corrine again calmly discussing their options.  Phillip wants to split the vote against Eddie and Reynold because of their strength while Corrine suggests they take out Sherri because she believes that is safer than splitting the votes, or so she says.  In reality she knows she'll need Reynold and Eddie to implement her master plan of overthrowing the "favorites".  Once again Phillip uses his man crush Boston Rob to strengthen his argument to get rid of the two power players.  This just escalates Corrine's frustration and she goes off to solidify her plan with Reynold and Eddie.
Dawn comes up to her and this is where Corrine makes a fatal error.  She lets it slip that not only does she want to take out Sherri but also is considering turning on Phillip on the next vote and plans on using Reynold and Eddie.  This really spooks Dawn who goes strait to John.  Once again John shows he isn't a total idiot and explains how he doesn't want to show any signs of fractures within the "favorites" thus giving them hope to make a power shift.  If only the first post merge immunity challenge in South Pacific had been a food challenge!  How different that game would of been!  Although he doesn't want to show weakness within the "favs" John sees that Corrine is getting really dangerous and is the biggest threat of weakening his and the "favorites" advantage in the game.  So he and Dawn start devising a plan to get rid of Corrine. 
John goes to work on Andrea who can see the logic in his argument but is worried they don't have the numbers.  They are fairly confident that they can sway Brenda but realize the big question mark is Erik.  Andrea then goes to work on Phillip who is only too happy to vote out Corrine, especially after learning that she's placed a target on his back.  Andrea also works on Erik.  We also see Malcolm working on Erik who acts as though he's with Malcolm but what he's actually going to do is still up in the air even to himself.  Phillip meanwhile goes to work on Sherri.  MAN!  I'm so dizzy!
In yet another confessional by John he also expresses concern that their plan to get out Corrine depends on Erik who has demonstrated in the past a big incompetency to play the game.  Now, I certainly agree that Erik is the dumbest player in Survivor history but I have to take issue with John accusing someone else of demonstrating incompetence as opposed to himself who decided to make the brilliant move of going from sixth place to seventh place the last time he played.  At least Erik finished fifth in his first season.
At the vote there's a lot of tension as a lot of people are nervous about the people they've placed their trust in for this vote, except for Corrine who is completly oblivious as to how much in danger she is in tonight.  Even after she continues to dig her grave by revealing that she's leaving her options open.  When John is asked to respond to this he gives a great response that sounds logical but it also obviously designed not to tip off Corrine that she's getting some votes tonight.
Sherry also plays it smart when asked about the fans prediciment and says she doesn't think the fans have a shot which is complete bullshit but she wants the favorites to feel comfortable.  At the vote reading Corrine has a huge smile on her face when Sherri gets the first five votes but it quickly evoporates when she sees her name come up.  She is totally shocked to see her name come up again and again and AGAIN until she has six votes and Probst reveals the final vote is indeed for her and she is out of the game just like that. Another interesting thing that occurs is Probst doesn't say "first member of the jury".  So with eleven people now left in the game if they do a final three that means there will only be eight people on the jury, if the jury starts with next weeks vote off.  If the jury does start next week we can almost certainly assume that there will in fact be a final three because I don't think they're going to have a final two with nine jury members.  Sorry to see you go Corrine.  You're one of the biggest bitches in Survivor history but you make great comments and next to Brenda you have the best body of the remaining cast.  But this is what you get when you make a big move and your swing vote is the dumbest player in Survivor history!  I have a strong suspicion that that may have been one of the biggest blindsides ever and Corrine probably had no idea what happened until she watched the show back last night.
So it looks like we have a whole new ball game!  It would appear there is a new majority alliance that consists of Phillip, Andrea, Dawn, John, Brenda, Erik and Sherri.  I can't wait to find out what Sherri's Stealth R Us code name is going to be!
With Corrine gone Malcolm is now in serious trouble.  The "favorites" will all most likely turn on him after this weeks events which puts him in a minority alliance of four in a tribe of twelve.  The one thing the pretty boy alliance have going for them is they have both idols and also have the biggest threats to win individual immunity.  However even if they successfully use both idols to vanquish two members from the majority, they are still outnumbered.  Of course if Russell could make that work maybe Malcolm can too, but you also have to remember, that unlike Russell he's in an alliance with people who were not in his original tribe.  If they do make it to the final five there's a much bigger chance of them turning on him then Russell's alliance from Samoa.  So I hate to say it but it looks like Malcolm's chances of winning this game have gone to slim to none.
On the other side of the coin there's Sherri who definitely benefited the most from tonight's vote.  In one episode Sherri's fate has been seriously altered for the better.  She went from being on the chopping block and just two votes shy of leaving the game to being a member of a majority alliance.  Not only that, but given the fact that she's the only fan in this alliance that now makes her the swing vote, which is one of the best spots to be in within the game of Survivor.  If she can dodge Malcolm and Reynold's immunity idols over the next couple weeks she's in a very good position to become the most powerful player in the game.
I do have to say I'm very impressed at the number of bullets Reynold and Eddie have managed to dodge so you never know what's going to happen.  This season has suddenly become very interesting.

NEXT WEEK ON SURVIVOR!  Malcolm knows he's on thin ice and makes a plea to.... Dawn?  If history is any indication she's not the best person to place your trust in!  So I'm guessing Malcolm's position is only going to get worse next week.